With the increasing use of integrated circuits (IC's) in consumer, industrial and business electronic equipment, extremely high levels of circuit complexity are available. Many times, especially in the communications or computer fields, a circuit board may be entirely filled with IC's such as memories, logic circuits, and the like.
In view of the large numbers of IC's employed in such systems, the insertion of the IC's into suitable sockets becomes a limiting factor in the fabrication time and cost of such systems. Usually, the IC's are in the form of a dual in line package (DIP), usually varying from 0.3 to 0.6 inches in width, and may contain as little as one, or as many as twenty leads or "pins" on each side of the IC. Insertion of the IC's into the associated sockets on the printed circuit boards is made difficult whenever the pins on the IC's are not properly aligned. Clearly, this becomes a major problem when inserting IC's having up to 40 pins, each of which must be properly aligned before insertion can be achieved. Unfortunately, a significantly large portion of the IC's, as manufactured, have at least a few pins which are substantially out of alignment for proper insertion. This misalignment must be corrected in what has heretofore been a time-consuming operation, leading to significantly increased fabrication time and cost.
There exist certain tools which provide some degree of pin adjustment capability. "Insertion tools" provide a rudimentary type of alignment. Typically, an insertion tool is formed by two vertically disposed parallel plates spaced by a distance approximately equal to that of the width of the IC to be inserted. The IC is pushed into the insertion tool, between the parallel plates, and any pins which are bent outwardly hopefully return to a position which will allow insertion. The pin is then inserted into the socket while still in the insertion tool, and must be ejected from the tool after insertion.
A major drawback of the insertion tool is that a particular tool must be used for an associated particular IC size. For example, an insertion tool for a 0.3 inch width IC cannot be used with IC's of any other widths. Further, an insertion tool adapted for use with a low number of pins (i.e., 6 or 8 pins) cannot be used with an IC having a greater number of pins and vice versa. Finally, as noted above, the insertion of the IC must be accomplished while the IC is still in the tool, and must be ejected therefrom after insertion.
Still other tools are provided for straightening IC pins which are inwardly bent or crooked. However, by far, the most predominent problem associated with IC's are pins which are bent outwardly, since many IC's are manufactured out of tolerance, typical dimensions of the pins having center spacings as much as 0.395" or 0.695", rather than the maximum desired center spacings of 0.320" and 0.620".